The present invention relates to the removal of contaminants from hydrocarbon liquids and gases. More particularly, the invention relates to the use of a copper oxide adsorbent to remove sulfur and mercury from natural gas streams.
Fluid streams, such as hydrocarbon liquids and gases, such as natural gas, are often contaminated with sulfur compounds and other contaminants such as elemental mercury. Supported metal sulfides such as cupric sulfide CuS are known scavengers for mercury from fluids. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,094,777 describes a solid mass which contains a carrier and sulfided copper as absorbent for mercury from a gas or a liquid. CuS based materials for Hg removal are offered by Axens, JMC and others for applications in natural gas and hydrocarbon industry. However, there is a need for more efficient absorbents of mercury, especially in the case of sulfur free streams and in the presence of reducing agents such as hydrogen in the feed.